We’ve recently concluded that my son has a color deficiency which has generated a lot of questions as parents. One thing that had kept coming to mind for me, was the curiosity of how he saw the world. My father-in-law has the same thing, so I’ve spoke with him about it, but it’s difficult to explain.
So my wife and I did what so many of us do when we have a question that needs answering: We Googled it.
We unearthed some great stuff and learned that color blindness is fairly common. Here’s the best video I’ve seen explaining what it’s like to be colorblind:
No Such Thing As Color
[tentblogger-youtube AUsups6Mk3I]
This is unbelievably helpful and insightful!
Continuing on, we found a good–free–color test for iOS:
PseudoChromatic ColorTest
Contrary to the name color blind, most color blind people are not blind to color. A more accurate description is color deficient. We see color. You just don’t see it the same as we do. (Perhaps it is really you who are color deficient and we are normal.) About 1 in 20 males are color blind. About 1 in 200 women are color blind.
I really wanted to get a better idea of how my son sees the world and found this really cool–again, free–app:
Chromatic Vision Simulator
“Chromatic Vision Simulator” is a color vision simulation tool which simulates color vision of color vision deficiencies. This software is developed by Kazunori Asada (Ph.D. medical science and Ph.D. media design), based on the research in color science.
For this to be really helpful, you’ll want to determine the type of colorblindness someone has, but it’s interesting to use even if you’re just curious. We had done a few online color tests, too, and used this app in conjunction with it by using it on the computer screen–amazing.
Available for free on iTunes and Google Play store.
As someone who builds websites, I begin to wonder, “Can someone who’s color blind see websites I’ve designed?”
Colorblind Web Page Filter
What a great tool! Considering there are decent number of people with color deficiency, this is a great resource to check your website’s usability.
Give it a try! I’ve added it to my bookmarked tools. 🙂
Are you color blind?
Any other resources and links are appreciated, so please, leave them in the comments below. 🙂
Sele Mitchell says
I too am color deficient, so I have always been particular when using colors on a website. The ones that use colors in their fonts are really difficult sometimes to read and I usually give up on them fairly quickly. The list of resources you have here are really great and I will be sure to check them out. I really like the app that helps you to explain to someone what you are seeing.
I always get the question “How do you know when the stop light turns green?” My answer is always the same, “When the white light on the bottom comes on, I go.”
Eric Dye says
Awesome. Thanks for commenting. It’s cool to learn there are a lot more people who have this. It only reinforces to me the importance to keep this in mind when developing and designing all sorts of things! Thank you, Sele. 🙂